News from the Muslim Climate Change Meeting in Bogor, Indonesia

May 4, 2010:

Here is a selection of the press coverage from the International Muslim Conference on Climate Change Issues, held in Bogor last month.

It was the first ever international Muslim conference on
climate change, and was a continuation of the agenda
of the Muslim Seven Year Action Plan for Climate Change (M7YAP) declared
in Istanbul, Turkey, early in June 2009, and part of the ARC/UNDP programme to help religions make long-term plans to protect the living planet. It includes proposals for a more environmentally-aware
management of the annual haj, eco-friendly mosques and publishing the Koran with paper from sustainable forests.

Bogor is on the slopes of Mount Salak on the island of Java, 50 kilometres south of the capital city Jakarta.

INT'L MUSLIM CONFERENCE ON CLIMATE CHANGE ISSUES BOGOR DECLARATION.

Bogor, W Java, April 10 (ANTARA) A two-day international Muslim
conference on climate change ended here on Saturday (April 9) with the
issuance of a Bogor Declaration, stressing the need to prevent
climate change through education. The conference committee chairman,
Ismid Hadad made the remarks here after closing the conference, adding
that the conference had adopted policies to deal with climate change.
"It essentially must start with education because environmental problems
are associated with scientists. We need experts and scientists who can
create a way to prevent the environmental impact," he said.

One of the policies issued is the declaration of Bogor as a "sustainable
green city" which was signed by the
Muslim Association on Climate Change Action (MACCA), Muhammadiyah
executive board, the Indonesian Biodiversity Foundation (KEHATI),
Conservation International-Indonesia (CI-Indonesia), and The
Microturbine Cogeneration Technology Application Project (MCTAP) and the
Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT). Link here for the full story.

MUSLIM CLIMATE CHANGE CONFAB RESULTS PROMOTE UNFCC PROGRAMS

By Eliswan Azly

PHOTO: Dibya Pradana

Jakarta, April 10 (ANTARA) The results of a two-day international Muslim
conference on climate change in Bogor, West Java, which ended on April 9
and emphasized the need to prevent climate change through education are
seen by many as helping the campaigns and programs of the UN Framework
on Climate Change (UNFCC)

Dr Sofyan Siregar, an observer of the European Islamic University for
the Study of Islamic Politics in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in an
emailed massage received on Monday, said the conference on climate
change hosted by Indonesia should spur and motivate
the developed countries in the world to take the same steps with a
matching commitment.

Perhaps the issue is still new for Muslim countries to adopt such a
policy on climate change, but their commitment to embody the statements
made during the conference was likely to be more concrete a way to
make people aware of the importance of preserving the environment
through education.

Most developed countries - like the US and other participants of UNFCC -
were trapped in big differences of opinion because of their different
interests which often made the implementation of the agreements they had
reached run at a snail's pace.

"Such an impression we have in mind in seeing the UNFCC conference on
climate change organized by developed countries is something which has
to do with their reluctance to implement their agreements properly,"
Sofyan said.

The Bogor conference also formed groups of environmentalists from Islamic
states who will voice the Muslim movement in climate change at the
international level.

The Green Haj

Ahmad Fauzi, the Forestry Ministry's liaison for the conference, said
organizers expected to come up with concrete results on how to implement
the proposals agreed on in Turkey. He said one of the more ambitious targets was the 'green haj', in which
haj pilgrims would be encouraged to minimize and offset their carbon
footprints from the pilgrimage.
"If each of the 250,000 or so Indonesian haj pilgrims set aside US$10
toward that end, we'd have a $2.5 million fund to combat climate
change," Ahmad said.

Another measure for adoption is to phase out the use of plastic bottles
throughout the haj. "The idea is for the pilgrims to bring back an understanding of caring
for creation as an act of faith," the Action Plan says.

Greater Awareness

Ahmad said the conference would help boost awareness of environmental
issues among Muslims at schools and universities, and help draw up
guidelines on climate change issues to be distributed among Muslim
scholars.

Still to be achieved

The two-day
conference, however, failed to set up the proposed Muslim Association on
Climate Change Action (MACCA) as an umbrella group to implement the
Bogor declaration. The conference also failed to discuss the implementation of the planned
environmentally friendly haj. "With or without the MACCA, we will go
forward to take action against climate change," Hadad said.

The conference would submit the Bogor declaration to the OIC, which
consists of 57 Muslim and Muslim-majority countries. "It is time for the
OIC to talk about climate change to put pressure on the international
community to deal with global warming," he said.

The conference also agreed to promote collaboration among Muslim
countries by mobilizing scientists to conduct research on climate
change.
Furthermore, Sofyan said Muslim and Muslim-majority countries needed to
train their religious leaders on knowledge of climate change for them to
propa-gate the values to their congregations. They also agreed to
promote a special curriculum on environmental issues in Islamic schools
from elementary school to university level.

"The Islamic boarding school system in Indonesia could be used as model
to promote best environmental education practices," he said.

There are currently 17,000 such schools in Indonesia. "Some 900 schools
have applied eco-friendly practices by managing water, waste and energy
and instilling curriculum with environmental subjects," member of the
eco-pesantren team Mardhani Djuhri said.

The director of the Center for Civilization Dialogue at the University
of Malaya, Azizan Baharuddin, acknowledged the crucial role of education
in achieving sustainable development. "The education should raise public
awareness on sustainable development," Azizan said.

Mohammad Azmi from Malaysia-based Consumer Association of Penang said
that OIC member countries should strengthen their position on
international talks on climate change issues. "This conference on
Muslims against climate change should come up with strong stance to back
up the UNFCC, he said.

"All Muslim countries should be part of the [UNFCC] board to prevent
rich nations from killing the Kyoto Protocol," he said. The UN Framework
on Climate Change (UNFCC) hosts annual conferences on climate change to
discuss issues including emissions cuts targets to tackle climate
change. Link here for the full story.

February 11, 2010:MACCA holds its first conference in Indonesia in AprilThe First International Muslim Conference on Climate Change will held in the Indonesian city of Bogor, in West Java, in April this year. Around 150 people from 30 Muslim countries will attend, including scientists, ulama (religious leaders) and green activists.